Pesky Wabbits

We had a lovely walk on Christmas Day.  Good company with Auntie Tricia and Leo, Poppy and Grace and nice weather.  We went for a repeat performance on Boxing Day but unfortunately a certain dog got the scent of rabbits and was off chasing.  Even more unfortunately when she came back she decided that she had hurt one of her back legs and could not use it for a good few minutes.

It was her left hind leg - the one which had previously been her better knee.  After a bit of vet visiting it is clear she had slipped her kneecap and must have stretched the ligament so that is currently no longer her better knee.  We are considering it a setback rather than a disaster and carrying on with the physio and exercises although we are having to have an on lead spell followed by a gradual build up to off lead again - and hopefully no more rabbit chasing!

New Year

2011 has been a very tough year for me and pretty difficult for Molly at times as she has also had to contend with a new home and very different life style.  We have both got through it together though.  We were invited to some friends for New Year so had a lovely dinner and then saw in the New Year with good company, Molly asleep on my lap and a mug of tea.

A Christmas poem - by Molly

After our recent seasonal visits and all the chaos Molly decided to put paw to paper to give her thoughts:

Misunderstood

I love to go out visiting, I'm really very sweet,

My coat is brushed, my collars clean, so I'm all nice and neat.

And as for my behaviour, it's really very good,

And if it's not, it's not my fault, I'm just misunderstood.

I'd never seen an indoor tree with lights on it before,

I only thought the balls might look better on the floor,

And sparkly bottles are such fun when pushed over and rolled,

With humans moving very fast when I pick them up to hold.

If they put things on a table, and then don't let me see,

Who wouldn't pull on the cloth to make them nearer me?

And who would keep food scraps in a bin upon the floor,

If they did not want me to keep dipping in for more.

So now when we go visiting lots of people are not in,

Seems very odd, mum says they are really just hidin'

Mum says it's all my fault, and I must learn to be more good,

And I tell her I am angelic, and I'm just misunderstood!

by Molly - aged 2 and a bit

Christmas

Christmas is a time for visiting folk - so visiting we did!  Over the course of our visits Molly managed to remove a bauble from a Christmas Tree, search through a stack of presents under a tree like a crazed drugs dog, go bin raiding, bark at musical ornaments, discover snow globes move when whacked with a paw and last but not least try to pull off a tablecloth to get at the food on the table.  Good job Christmas is only once a year really - maybe everyone will have forgotten by next year when we schedule our next visits!!

I was also very spoiled by Mollys Auntie Marianne and a lovely generous and talented lady who took a fantastic picture of Molly.  Here is Moll investigating

What is it?

Well I have no idea who that is supposed to look like?

No look at me - me I said - MEEEEEEEE

It is a fantastic picture which captures her personality perfectly - what a lovely present!

Fun with friends

As well as physio exercises Molly is allowed as much free running as she likes so we have been meeting Auntie Tricia and her dogs Leo and Poppy for walks over Coundon Wedge.  Thankfully we seemed to have turned a corner with Mollys behaviour off lead and she is now much more reliable and checks in with me frequently as well as generally staying with me rather than going off hunting as she used to.
She has very much enjoyed her runs with the other dogs and despite her knee problems is a happy girl!!

We even managed to fit in a little posing when the dogs had ran around enough to satisfy them.

I had not thought about it at the time we took the pictures - but looks like Mollys problem with being asked to stay when she is near another dog is fairly sorted as she seems to have no problem having her photo taken so close to the lovely Leo.

Not quite right

Although Molly was recovering from her hurt I was not totally convinced that all was well so decided to take her down to Cardiff to get checked out properly.  Before the serious business of the vet check we met up with a crowd of friends for a walk as Cosmeston Lakes.  17 dogs all got on brilliantly and we had a great time.

The next day we got down to the serious business of the vet check and unfortunately the conclusion was that she has luxating patella affecting both knees and needs to build up a significant amount more muscle than she currently has.
She had some acupuncture and then a session in the hydro treadmill as well as given a whole load of physio exercises to try and sort her out.
We have been working hard on the exercises and also had some acupuncture locally and my local vet feels she has improved her muscle mass a fair amount already so hopefully things will not be too bad.

Much better

Thankfully things have been going a bit better recently and I have been building Moll's exercise back up gradually.  We have now progressed to off lead exercise again!  The first time she came off lead was probably the first time for over a month so she went wild and no birds in the park went un-chased for several minutes.  She did calm down after a few minutes of madness and started to listen to me a little more.
I was concerned she would damage herself running like a mad thing - but she seems pretty sound now with only a very occasional glance behind her as if she has a slight twinge.
Molly was a good girl today we went for a walk over the fields which is a challenge as she is a bit obsessive about chasing birds (so I often take the cowards approach and stick to the park) she firstly saw a crow on the ground, tensed ready to go after it, but came when I called her instead a short while later a second crow flew across in front of her and she tensed. watched it, but turned and came to me instead.
I did put her back on the lead for the more challenging hunting areas but was otherwise really pleased with her!!